The highlighted person in today’s tale is another one who has just one lonely church record in our German Family Tree. Today’s birthday boy is Rudolph Benjamin Saupe, who was born on August 25, 1895. That means he would be 128 years old if he was still alive today. Rudolph, who I will call Rudy, was the son of Theodore and Lina (Scholl) Saupe. That one lonely church record in our GFT is his baptism record, which indicates that he was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. An image of his baptism record is pictured here.
Rudy is found in the 1900 census at the age of 4. He was the oldest child in his family. His father was a farmer in the Shawnee Township.
When Trinity Lutheran Church was established in Shawneetown in 1909, it appears that this Saupe family became members there. That would have been about the year that Rudy would have been confirmed, but we do not find a confirmation record for him at either Immanuel, New Wells or Trinity, Shawneetown. Later Saupe children were confirmed at Trinity. 1909 would also be the year that Rudy’s mother died. The next census in which we find Rudy is the one taken in 1910. As you can see, his father was a widower. Rudy was a laborer on his father’s farm at the age of 14.
That census would be the last indicator that Rudy was living in Missouri. When Rudy had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. His address is given as rural Groton, South Dakota. If I am reading it correctly, he was working for Ewald Hauling.
In the 1920 census, Rudy was living by himself. He was a 24 year-old farmer in Brown County, South Dakota, which is where Groton is located.
Rudy would get married prior to the next census, so let’s take a look at the early life of his bride. Her name was Alice Margaret Rohrman, who was born on March 1, 1906. I found several different spellings on Ancestry.com for her surname. Alice was the daughter of John and Johanna (Jansonn) Rohrman. She is found in her first census in 1910 at the age of 4. Her family was living in the Spink Township in Union County, South Dakota, which is near Yankton. Her father was a farmer. Alice, like Rudy, was the oldest child in her family.
The Rohrman family relocated to another South Dakota area during the next decade. We find them living in Dewey County, which is also where we will find Rudy living for the rest of his census entries. Alice’s father had died in 1913, so her mother is the head of the household. She is called a dairy farmer.
Rudy Saupe married Alice Rohrman on December 24, 1929. I guess I find it a bit unusual that they got married on Christmas Eve. We can take a look at a South Dakota marriage record for this event.
The above form says Rudy was from Glencross, and Alice was from Trail City in South Dakota. The map below shows where these two very small unincorporated areas are located.
This pair of newlyweds is found in the 1930 census. Rudy was farming in Township 17 in Dewey County, South Dakota.
The Saupe’s had just one child, a daughter named Shirley, who was born in about 1936. She is found in the Saupe household in the 1940 census at the age of 4. This time, the family was said to be living in Township 16.
The last census the public can view is the one taken in 1950. In it, we find the Saupe’s living in what was called the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in Dewey County. Rudy was still farming.
Rudy Saupe died in 1973 at the age of 77; Alice Saupe died in 1993 at the age of 87. These two are buried together in the Greenwood Cemetery in Mobridge, South Dakota.
During the early decades of the 20th century, quite a few young men from our area went off to find work in some Midwest states, especially Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. In many cases, these men would later return to this area. Rudy was one of those young men who never came back. He remained a South Dakota farmer throughout his working career.